


Fire Safety

by Monstacatz



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Derek Hale Needs a Hug, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, and therapy, fire mentions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-26
Updated: 2019-09-26
Packaged: 2020-10-28 21:48:14
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,671
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20785559
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Monstacatz/pseuds/Monstacatz
Summary: In which fire safety training is mandatory in the workplace, Stiles has too much faith in Derek’s ability to handle his trauma and Derek is too stubborn to skip the whole seminar.





	Fire Safety

Stiles really should have been expecting some form of freak-out from Derek. After all, the training module was named ‘Fire Safety’ and Derek’s whole family had been killed in one. 

But he, stupidly, had thought that since it had been almost a decade since the event and the training was mandatory, that Derek would be able to handle it.

He wasn’t completely wrong, in his defense. He handled it for about twenty minutes, and that counted. 

After a quiet ride to their workplace (Derek had picked him up because his Jeep was in the shop for some much-needed repairs) where the wolf had spoken less than usual, meaning not at all, Stiles had quickly checked on him before they went in.

‘You sure you’re good with this?’ He asked, brows furrowing as Derek concentrated on parking the Camaro. 

Derek glared at him and flung open the car door with unnecessary force. ‘I have to be.’

It was the only verbal confirmation he’d given so far to the fact that he was dreading this, the rest Stiles had picked up from his tenser-than-usual body language.

Stiles nodded to himself and tried to think of ways to do damage control for whatever was about to happen.

By the time he got out of the car, Derek was already at the door, and he reached around with a click of his car fob to lock the vehicle up before heading inside, not even waiting for Stiles.

The room full of people upstairs where a fireman was waiting to give his presentation calmed Stiles’ nerves a little, but only served to fray Derek’s more.

Stiles was glad there was a crowd not because it stressed Derek out more, but because it would be easier to slip out without being noticed if anything went wrong and, judging by the white-knuckled grip Derek had on the underside of the seat he had stiffly placed himself in, something was going to go wrong.

Five minutes later, people had stopped milling around and everyone was seated. Derek had thankfully picked the seat at the back closest to the exit and Stiles was right beside him to his left.

He kept checking up on the werewolf beside him throughout the spoken part of the training because although he didn’t have super-senses he was close enough to hear when Derek’s breathing got heavier, or slower. A few times he thought he’d caught his eyes flashing blue, but he never fully turned and looked at him so he couldn’t be totally sure.

The real problems arose when the fireman busted out a video demonstration of how fast a house could go up. It was real-time footage of a fire that had been started on a sofa in a prop house and it was accompanied by helpful commentary about how the smoke would be choking people at x stage of the fire, what degree the temperature would be at x stage, the way ceilings doubled flames back down into the room and at what point the temperature was high enough to shatter the glass in the windows. 

Stiles heard claws rip into the fabric underside of the chair next to him before Derek abruptly got up and left. Stiles waited like, two minutes before he followed but he was pretty sure it looked suspicious anyway.

He found Derek in the bleak alleyway out back that was used as a smoking area for staff. 

He was leaned back against the wall in an almost casual stance, but his shoulders were hunched and he was scrubbing over his face with his hands, hiding his expression. 

Stiles made sure to make plenty of noise coming over, even though he knew Derek had probably anticipated that he would follow him.

‘Hey.’ He greeted softly, leaning himself against the wall too. Derek didn’t respond, but he hadn’t expected him to. 

‘I’d ask if you were okay, but then you’d probably lie.’ Stiles stated, turning to actually look at the man next to him. 

Derek deflated a little at his words but dropped his hands to his sides. Stiles didn’t miss the fact that they were now balled into fists likely hiding claws.

His eyes were flashing blue every so often like he couldn’t really help it, and Stiles felt utterly stupid for ever thinking anyone would be capable of handling such a detailed account of how their whole family had likely died, even Derek.

Stiles was about to blurt out something stupid like ‘I’m sorry for your loss’ when Derek’s face completely crumpled.

Oh hell, Derek Hale was crying.

He didn’t really know why it was the first thing that came to mind, because a hug definitely wasn’t the smartest plan when dealing with an unstable shifting werewolf, but hugs were how you comforted people right? And Derek still counted as a person, at least in his books.

So, trying desperately not to think about how close it would take his neck to Derek’s massive and very very sharp fangs, Stiles stepped right into his personal space, slid his arms clumsily around the wolf and braced himself for death. 

He really got an idea of just how bad he was feeling when Derek collapsed into the hug without threatening him and dropped his head onto Stiles’ shoulder, letting his tears soak into his hoodie. 

He tried to rationalize it in his head by imagining it was Scott he was holding tightly and work from there because then he’d know what to say, but the worst thing he’d ever comforted Scott over was breakups and his parent’s divorce, not the death of his entire family right in front of his eyes. He was in way over his head.

‘Derek-’ he started, but he didn’t know how to finish and just trailed off. He settled for pulling him in closer and squeezing him a little tighter with the advantage of knowing he wouldn’t hurt him. 

Derek was too lost in his memories to care about how much of a fool he was making of himself and in front of who. In the back of his mind, he knew he’d regret it later but right then he found he was just glad to have someone there for him. He hadn’t had that in a while. 

Familiar flashes of bright orange flames and hands desperately reaching for help from the cellar window assaulted his mind, now overlaid with a step by step guide to the suffering his family had gone through that the fireman upstairs had provided. He hadn’t thought the memories could get any more painful until now.

He squeezed his eyes shut impossibly tighter and tried to bite down on a sob unsuccessfully. He could smell the discomfort coming from Stiles in waves from this close to him but he couldn’t pull away just yet, he wasn’t even sure he could stand on his own with the weight of the memories he’d repressed for years pressing down on him yet again.

‘Derek, hey listen, I’m here alright? You can trust me.’ Stiles murmured more into his hair than to him, and Derek was surprised to hear his heart beating steadily. Not a lie. 

Derek took a deep breath and tried to steady himself, but he didn’t push back. He kept his face hidden between Stiles’ neck and shoulder. 

‘I just try so hard not to think about it.’ He managed, his voice still thick with emotion. 

Stiles nodded and ran a hand soothingly up Derek’s back to the nape of his neck, where he began rubbing light circles into the short hair there. 

‘I know. You’re basically the poster boy for bottling up your feelings, dude.’ He prodded lightly, no heat behind the jab. 

Derek blew out a puff of air that Stiles really hoped was a laugh.

‘Coming from you, mister “sarcasm is my only form of defense”?’ Derek shot back. 

Stiles’ lame attempt at cheering him up with their usual snarky banter was kind of working judging by the way Derek’s voice had gained back some of its strength and he was glad of it. 

He didn’t like seeing Derek in such a state, and not just because he had no clue how to navigate the situation. He really just felt sorry for him and not even in a patronizing kind of way, more of an I-want-to-make-you-feel-better-again-no-matter-what-it-takes kinda way. 

Which was weird, and kind of a revelation to him the moment the thought crossed his mind, because when had he started caring about Derek’s feelings? 

‘Well I’m not being sarcastic about this.’ Stiles started firmly. ‘I actually went to my grief counseling appointments as a kid, so I’m clearly equipped to help.’ 

Derek actually laughed a little bit at that, a kind of choked sounding sad laugh, but a laugh nonetheless. ‘How do you know I didn’t?’ 

Stiles had the decency not to gesture to Derek as a whole and then cite his personality as proof. 

‘Just a hunch.’ He muttered. 

Derek finally found the strength to pull back from Stiles steadying grip, and wiped the wet streaks from his cheeks with his sleeve. ‘Thanks.’ 

‘For what?’ 

‘For being your usual annoying self.’ 

Stiles grinned at the jab. He was almost back in working order then.

‘Anytime.’ He could tell Derek was about to brush off the offer by the look that crossed his face, obviously not thinking Stiles was being sincere about it. 

He grabbed Derek’s wrist to pull his attention back to him and looked him straight in the eye. ‘Seriously, anytime. I mean it.’ 

Derek’s eyes softened and he nodded. ‘Thank you.’

Stiles bumped their shoulders together amicably and nodded his head to the back exit of their workplace. ‘Don’t mention it sourwolf. Now let’s say we get out of here, huh?’ 

Derek shook his head at him fondly before following closely behind as Stiles strode out ahead of him. He’d had a major setback, sure, but he’d forgotten how much easier those were when there was someone next to him to help him through.

**Author's Note:**

> *trumpet noise* taa-daa I finally wrote for another fandom! 
> 
> ...Ok fine this is the only non-spn fic that’s managed to crawl it’s way out of my overflowing WIP pile as of yet. 
> 
> Hope you enjoyed nonetheless :) Comments and kudos are always appreciated if you did <3


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